FUNDING OVER
80 YEARS OF CHANGE

Woods Fund Chicago is a grantmaking foundation committed to the promotion of social, economic, and racial justice through the support of community organizing and public policy advocacy that engages people that are most impacted.

Our Vision

Woods Fund Chicago seeks to help create a society where people of all racial and ethnic groups — across all levels of social and economic status — are empowered and have a voice to influence policies that impact their daily lives, and where all communities are free of poverty and racism.

Fighting For Racial Justice

Woods Fund Chicago approaches all facets of our work with a foundation of racial justice. We are committed to funding community organizing and public policy advocacy that advances racial equity and economic justice. We firmly believe that the people most impacted by structural racism and economic injustice should lead the process of defining problems and developing solutions. Our work centers BIPOC voices, leadership, and organizing. We are devoted to disrupting white supremacy culture, confronting power, redistributing resources, and creating systemic transformation for real change.

OUR GRANTS

Woods Fund Chicago recognizes the long history of the inequitable power dynamic between funder and grantee.

As a grantmaker, Woods Fund Chicago is committed to shifting power back into communities, actively listening to needs, and intentionally fostering collaboration. Those most impacted are best suited to lead the process of defining and solving problems; Woods Fund Chicago aims to connect deeply as a supportive and empowering partner in grantee partners’ journeys towards justice.

Photo by Prison + Neighborhood Arts/Education Project

Woods Fund Chicago has shifted to a model dedicated to trust-based philanthropy (TBP) that allows grantee partners to determine where grant dollars are needed most. We invest in the sustainability of our grantee partners and the local organizing ecosystem through general operating and multiyear grants, a restructured cycle that devotes greater attention to grantee partners year-round, an increased annual grantee payout of 11%, and more.

We continue our reflective work in understanding where there is room for growth as an organization, how we can better serve our partners, and how the philanthropic sector as a whole can boldly act to disrupt white supremacy culture and forge healthy, meaningful, and lasting relationships with our communities.

COMMUNITY ORGANIZING

There are many approaches to creating change, and all are needed.

Woods Fund Chicago supports organizations that engage in power building through taking collective action. Here is how we define community organizing:

Photo by Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN)

Community Organizing is the process by which people impacted by injustice take collective action, guided by an intersectional racial justice analysis, to build power to win meaningful change in their lives and communities, challenge the power structure, and achieve systemic change. Organizing often involves winning changes in practice, policy, and resource distribution of public or private institutions. It is fundamentally about justice, grassroots democracy, and self-determination. 

To learn more about key terms in our approach to community organizing, visit our glossary of terms.

FUNDING
MOVEMENT
INFRASTRUCTURE

Over 80 years ago, Nelle and Frank Woods and their three sons founded the Woods Charitable Fund with the strong belief that the role of a philanthropist was to counter established institutions.

Woods Fund Chicago has carried on that legacy through the transition from a family foundation to a private foundation, funding community-based organizing and public policy advocacy throughout Chicago. A commitment to racial justice means supporting BIPOC-led and BIPOC-centered community-based organizations to build their capacity and infrastructure to ensure their sustainability.

Woods Fund Chicago has committed to assisting grantee partners in strengthening the infrastructure of their organizations and utilizing our convening power in the philanthropic sector to highlight issues that are impacting communities of color in Chicago

Our Impact

Every year, Woods Fund Chicago seeks to make an impact in communities of color by investing in the organizing and public policy advocacy needed to undo generations of systemic and institutionalized racism. Leading with a racial equity lens, we strive to invest our dollars in work predominately led by people of color and that centers the most vulnerable in our society by providing general operating support, capacity building support, and other resources identified by our grantee partners.

Learn More

Since 1993, Woods Fund Chicago has awarded more than $90,000,000 to support the organizing and advocacy sector in Chicago.

Photo by Chicago Freedom School

Photo by Chicago Coalition for the Homeless

News and Events

Woods Fund Chicago strives to stay connected to the wider social justice community, from continuing communication with grantee and philanthropic partners, to advancing racial equity in all parts of its work. This section is updated regularly with news from Woods Fund Chicago, upcoming events, and updates from grantees’ efforts.

News
August 2024 // President Michelle Morales on Increasing Our Payout
August 2024 // President Michelle Morales on Increasing Our Payout
July 2024 // Announcing Woods Fund Chicago’s First Multiyear Grants
July 2024 // Announcing Woods Fund Chicago’s First Multiyear Grants
June 2024 // Investing in Our Grantee Partners
June 2024 // Investing in Our Grantee Partners
May 2024 // What We Can Learn From Student Movements
May 2024 // What We Can Learn From Student Movements